Day: September 29, 2008

Knucklehead

| Tasha

Knucklehead: tall tales & mostly true stories of growing up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka

I firmly believe that Jon Scieszka set out to write the most boy-friendly book in the world, and succeeded.  This autobiographical book has all the elements that boys want.  It is guaranteed to fly off the shelves thanks to the amazing vintage comic-book cover.  When boys read it, they are bound to share it with their friends thanks to the firecrackers, peeing, barfing, and continuous wild antics of the Scieszka brothers.  But what the cover and the louder moments of the book won’t reveal is the lovely tone of the book that captures boyhood and brotherhood with such ease.  The author is right there laughing with us at each event, loving looking back into his childhood together. 

He is also doing other important things, vital things for his young male readers.  He is showing boys that it is just fine to be pure boys.  To be silly, wild, crude, and violent.  That humor is contagious and that laughing together is powerful.  That being unique or even a little odd is just fine.  And that adults need not approve for it to be a great great story.

I read this book aloud to my sons at bedtime.  During the two weeks we shared the book together, they asked to go to bed EARLY multiple times to hear the story continue!  There was a visceral connection there, a community of men and boys being built, there was wonder, humor, and definitely wild abandon.

Anyone looking for an incredible read aloud for boys has found it here.  Age appropriateness is up to you as a parent.   There are crude things here in all of their bodily-function glory.  I happily read it to my own seven-year-old, but probably would not use it with a class of 2nd graders.  This is a treasure of a nonfiction book.  Share it with the knuckleheads in your life.

Shift

| Tasha

Shift by Charlotte Agell

In a frighteningly possible future, Homestate rules the land.  Evolution is not allowed to be discussed let alone taught in schools, watching religious programming is required, and the End of the World is approaching according to many.  This all happened after terrorists bombed Boston with nuclear weapons, creating a swath of dead land across the Eastern United States.  To the north of the Deadlands which still swirl with radioactive dust lies a land of horrible devastation and crazy people.  At 15-years-old, Adrian has seen his friends disappear for not believing, his mother change from a scientists into a shell, and his little sister grow into her strange psychic abilities.  Now he finds himself on an adventure across the Deadlands with a girl he barely knows, his little sister and a penguin.  And all they have to look forward to on the other side is a frightening unknown.

Agell has created a world that is all too possible.  I applaud her for not shirking away from what religious zealots could create in this world, though at times her tone can be too strident about the dangers.  The book is gripping and impossible to put down.  It vibrantly mixes humor and horror together.  One worry I have is that it does belittle the dangers of nuclear weapons, rather than showing the devastation to the extent it should be.  There were also some mixed messages about what food was safe to eat.  But the heart of the story and the journey were a treat.

This book is a mixture of action, adventure and disaster and is well worth the time to read thanks to its writing.  While I have quibbled about some of the points in the book, it is a strong novel with a strong voice.  Appropriate for ages 10-13.